In line with the recent Inquiry and Differentiation workshop attended by some of our teachers in Wangsa Maju, the core team did an echo of this event to all of the teachers in our campus.
When we talk about inquiry, we used to think of questions and questions and loads of questions. But, is it just about that? Today's session made me realise and reaffirm some of my previous realisations about inquiry. That it is more than just asking questions. Inquiry is a tool to search meaning, a tool to help us make sense of the world around us. Inquiry involves a lot of thinking, integrating skills and content from different learning areas. It encourages learners to be involved in deeper thinking. Inquiry involves active engagement of students by immersing them in experience related to the topic. Another important realisation that I came across while we talked about inquiry was the importance of allowing students to compare their earlier and later thinking. Through this opportunity, learners become more conscious not only of what they have learned but of how their thinking has changed along the way.
When we talk about inquiry, we used to think of questions and questions and loads of questions. But, is it just about that? Today's session made me realise and reaffirm some of my previous realisations about inquiry. That it is more than just asking questions. Inquiry is a tool to search meaning, a tool to help us make sense of the world around us. Inquiry involves a lot of thinking, integrating skills and content from different learning areas. It encourages learners to be involved in deeper thinking. Inquiry involves active engagement of students by immersing them in experience related to the topic. Another important realisation that I came across while we talked about inquiry was the importance of allowing students to compare their earlier and later thinking. Through this opportunity, learners become more conscious not only of what they have learned but of how their thinking has changed along the way.
Having to create our own definition of Inquiry helped me reflect on my own practices and on me being an inquirer. | |
We had a go on the different strategies for the different phases of inquiry. Each group had a chance to model a strategy a strategy and how it can be used in a particular phase of inquiry. Our group focused on the sorting out phase. We were given the central idea on "Reaching a resolution during periods or moments of conflict is influenced by the actions and reactions of all involved." Our group chose freeze frames as the strategy that we will introduce to all participants. |
The sessions completed today went smoothly and we all had a good laugh as we inquired and an as recalled and reflected on our current practices and used these learnings in our planning for the next unit.